"A top surrogate for President Obama insisted Friday that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act was not a tax — despite the fact that the Supreme Court narrowly preserved the law on those grounds.

"Don't believe the hype that the other side is selling," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick told reporters on a conference call.

"This is a penalty," Patrick said. "It's about dealing with the freeloaders."

The Supreme Court upheld the entirety of the health care law Thursday on narrow grounds, declaring that the individual mandate was legal under Congress' taxing powers.

In the wake of the decision, Republicans and conservatives have accused Obama of raising taxes. Radio host Rush Limbaugh called the act "nothing more than the largest tax increase in the history of the world" on Thursday."